The Duke’s Table

The Complete Book of Vegetarian Italian Cooking

Enrico Alliata

The Duke of Salaparuta

“Even though man can draw all he needs in the way of nourishment from a mere handful of seeds and fruit, he must not give up a proper meal.” — Enrico Alliata

A major re-discovery: an authentic and complete guide to vegetarian Italian cuisine …

First published in 1930, The Duke’s Table is a massive compendium of vegetarian recipes from Italy and throughout the Mediterranean.

The brainchild of Enrico Alliata, the Duke of Salaparuta, a utopian gourmand and winemaker, the book contains 1,030 recipes. Though much Italian fare is organically vegetarian, Alliata worked for decades to systematically re-imagine classic Italian dishes without using meat, creating a timeless encyclopedic reference work for vegetarians.

Alliata, who wrote against the “dietary orthodoxy of the day,” was a vocal advocate for a vegetarian diet, which he believed, much in advance of early dietitians, led to a longer, healthier life. Much like The Silver Spoon (first published in Italy in 1950, and in the U.S. in 2005), the book is unique in its scope and scale: its recipes are imaginative, playful and healthy—and all designed for family-style serving.

ENRICO ALLIATA, the Duke of Salaparuta, was born in South-Western Sicily in 1879. In 1824, Enrico’s grandfather, Guiseppe Alliata (“Prince of Villafranca, Price of the Holy Roman Empire, Grandee of Spain, and Duke of Salaparuta”) founded the Corvo wine company to produce gifts for diplomats, ambassadors, prices, and noble ladies. Enrico wrote against the “dietary orthodoxy” of the day and advocated a vegetarian diet, which he believed could prolong human life to 130 years and which he called “absolutely regenerative.” To the Duke, however, vegetarianism was no impediment to a good meal: he often hosted six-course vegetarian feasts, which he believed to be–along with the house wine–a “solution to human happiness.”

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”The Duke was…[a] visionary… His ambitious book takes classic Italian dishes and translates them into meatless versions.” —Meg Wolitzer, selecting The Duke’s Table as one of 5 Hidden Gems of the summer on NPR